a nine-term congressman. congress back in session battling over the bush tax cuts and whether to let them expire. it is getting ugly. republicans are splintered, democrats are threatening to defect, all with your paycheck on the line. a live report in a moment. and saving lives in pakistan. we'll take you on a mission with combat veterans giving aid in places too remote and dangerous for other rescue teams. it's a story you'll see only on american morning. and the a.m. fix blog is up and running. join the live conversation right now. go to cnn.com/amfix. >> plenty to talk about there. and we're happy to find out if america has a taste for tea this morning on primary day. polls are opening in seven states in washington, d.c. and the race with the biggest buzz is in delaware. if you hear that music, you know we're talking politics here on cnn. in delaware where christine o'donnell has a legitimate chance to upset mike castle in

the republican primary for senate. o'donnell's qualifications have been questioned by her own party leaders. but sarah palin's got her back recording this robo call on the candidate's behalf. >> i can relate to the vicious personal attacks on christine and tell you it's sad to see the establishment's desperation in this. and another critical race unfolding in washington, d.c. where we could be witnessing a referendum on education reform. mayor adrian fenty fighting for his job after firing hundreds of teachers and stepping on more than a few toes. and in new york, 80-year-old congressman charlie rangel is facing five democratic challengers and an ethics scandal that threatens to sink a 20-term career. >> interesting to see if that will actually happen. we'll wait and see. cnn is the only place to be for your primary day coverage. ed henry live at the white house this morning. he'll tell us how the

administration is about to go with a prominent republican. let's begin with brianna keilar live in washington. congress is back in session for the big midterm election push and they've got a very big issue on their hands in the matter of whether or not to extend these bush tax cuts. this is -- this is going to be an interesting one to watch in the next couple of days. >> and this is the big issue, jim. this is the issue that in really less than four weeks because they're out of there again. they're out of washington again ahead of the election season, this is what they're going to be dealing with. and obviously, the issue that continues to resinate is republican leader john boehner who had said that he would go along with extending the tax cuts for everyone except for the wealthiest earns, which, of course, is what president obama has gone for. but it's created a jumbled message among republicans.

because look at what some other republicans are saying. you have mitch mcconnell who is saying, no, i'm pushing legislation to keep these tax cuts in place across the board. of course, republicans say if you increase taxes for those people making above $250,000 a year, you're going to be hitting small businesses, and they consider this a very winning issue for them. and then you have boehner's own deputy in the house, eric cantor supporting across the board tax cuts, as well. mike pence, the chairman of the republican conference in the house saying no tax increases on the wealthy. he's saying that the white house line on this is class warfare. what you're seeing is this republican conference that has enjoyed a lot of cohesion, they're kind of jumbled when it comes to this issue, jim. >> brianna, it's candy, politics is no place for nuance. it seems to me when you go back and look at what boehner said. he said if the only choice i have is to vote for middle class

tax cuts or not, of course i'm going to vote for them. that gets lost in the whole discussion. is the problem here that boehner may have sort of given away the store before they started to bargain. he tipped his hand too early rather than what he said? >> that's exactly the issue. because republican sources say this may be where the debate settled in the end. but they felt they had a winning point. and as you know, candy, when it comes to taxes, this is an issue that republicans consider a win for them and democrats say, yeah, we can't beat republicans on taxes. and what you also have is a lot of democrats, especially the vulnerable one in tough races who weren't siding with their democratic leadership on this for these tax increases for those making $250,000 or more. and so, you have republicans telling us that they feel like maybe they can't really take as much advantage of that argument and the fact that there is some disunity among democrats on the issue. >> thank you so much. it's going to be an interesting couple of weeks on capitol hill.

at the white house, the president is drawing a hard line in the sand against republicans despite house minority leader john boehner's recent concession that he'll back off the continuing tax cuts for the very rich. ed henry is live at the white house this morning. ed, does the white house view what boehner said as a win? >> oh, big time, candy. you're not going to be surprised to hear they think this shows republicans are in some kind of disarray. and their argument has some merit. if you look at what's happened over the course of the last week, this all started with the president really kind of putting the pressure on boehner starting last wednesday. had a fiery campaign-style speech in cleveland. he picked cleveland to lay out the president's new economic plan. that's where boehner had laid out the republican economic plan a couple of weeks ago. and at friday's news conference, the president had this line that he hit that basically charged that boehner and the republicans were holding the middle class hostage by demanding that all the tax cuts, including the tax cuts for the rich move forward.

and then what happens as brianna noted within 48 hours, the white house thinks boehner essentially blinked and said, look, we'll accept the middle class tax cuts, which is not where the republicans were on friday. now when you have the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell yesterday not giving any cover saying, look, we don't want to do the middle class tax cuts as boehner suggested and the president suggested, as well, we want all the tax cuts extended, including those for the rich. this was a division that the president was only too happy to exploit. >> we could get that done this week. but we're still in this wrestling match with john boehner and mitch mcconnell about the last 2% to 3% where on average we'd be giving them $100,000 for people making $1 million or more. >> so the white house basically feels like they finally after months of having the president's plans out there and getting hit by everybody, they now have a

foil. somebody they can, you know, lay out their alternative in the case of john boehner and say, look, this is what the president wants, and this is what the republicans want. we should point out, though, as brianna knows full well, not all the democrats are on the same page. some of them are pressing speaker pelosi to put -- extend all the tax cuts, including the tax cuts for the rich. not something the white house wants to hear. i think the leadership on both sides are having some problems within the ranks as we get closer and closer to this election. jim, candy? >> and it may be a preview of things to come in the new congress if they're having to put together coalitions of republicans and democrats to get things done. heaven forbid. but ed, let me ask you about the president's second event coming up today, or big event coming up today. second annual back to school speech. i seem to recall his first back to school speech causing a little bit of controversy. something about indoctrinating our children. >> you're absolutely right.

conservatives were hammering the president this time last year. the white house moved ahead with the speech anyway. and last year, you remember, pretty straightforward, study hard, stay in school. it wasn't in the end very controversy. today he's going to philly. he's decided to give a second annual back-to-school speech. he's going to tie the economy as well as the war in afghanistan in this saying he understands that students are facing a lot of hardships in their family. "you read about the war in afghanistan, you hear about the recession we've been through. you see it in your parents' faces. a lot of you are having to act a lot older than you are to look after siblings while your mom works that second shift to take on a part-time job while your dad is out of work." you can see how he's trying to weave in the war in afghanistan as well as the recession. there's absolutely no political lines in this speech. this is something they feel gets the president out there talking about issues like education that really matter to real families.

jim, candy? >> thanks, our senior white house correspondent ed henry. we will, of course, have coverage of president obama's back-to-school message live from philadelphia today. you can watch it starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern. in 30 minutes, we'll be talking tea party and taxes with tina brown editor in chief of "the daily beast." you are looking at new video of secretary of state clinton arriving in egypt for a new round of middle east peace talks. the negotiations are part of a process aimed at closing a peace deal within the next 12 months. and at 6:09, new photos this morning of hurricane igor shot from space. let's talk to rob marciano about that. he's in our extreme weather center. and rob, those photos from space, pretty spectacular of this hurricane. it's a big one. >> it is a spectacular hurricane. and we're getting all sorts of different types of satellite and

international space station shots. this is courtesy of nasa. they opened up the cargo doors there of the iss and shot these pics. the eye, pretty well defined. a little bit of cloud cover as far as the cirrus goes. it is a well-structured hurricane. and we love these. we love these major hurricanes that look amazing from outer space. and are churning in the open waters of the atlantic. and right now, we're fairly confident that it will miss the united states. fairly confident. bermuda, i can't say the same for you. this is the infrared shot behind me. it has weakened a hair, but it's still a category four storm with winds of 135 miles an hour. let's talk about the track of this thing. finally, you see the last couple of frames of this -- right there. just makes that right turn. begins to make that northerly jog. that's what we've been waiting for. and this is the national hurricane center forecast for hurricane igor over the next five days.

it does bring it towards bermuda, unfortunately, for those folks. and statistically, the u.s. not completely out of it as far as being threatened. but it's looking a little bit more promising today. talk more about that and julia, and your national forecast a little bit later on in the program. jim and candy? >> thanks, rob. still to come on the most news in the morning, pacific gas and electric making a pledge this morning after last week's deadly gas explosion and fire that devastated a california neighborhood. it is 11 minutes after the hour. i've got power pain can't mess with.

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expenses. the ntsb is still investigating the explosion and fires. killed at least four people. rafael nadal has finally captured the only major title to elude him, the u.s. open championship. the 24-year-old spaniard knocked off yokavich. it was his ninth major title, and it completes the career grand slam for nadal. he's one of only seven men to won at least one australian open, french open, and u.s. open crown. >> and oprah's known for her big give aways. and yesterday she topped herself. she kicked off her 25th and final season with free trips to australia for an audience filled with the program's most loyal viewers. yes, trips to australia. and get this, actor and pilot john travolta will fly them there. they're going in december. i'm not so sure about that, by the way. can he fly a plane that far? that's a very pressing question.

>> and apparently he's flown for quantis. >> i was going to say -- i want to see some cameras in that cockpit. >> he knows what he's doing, we're told. >> we're told he does. that's a good thing. next on most news in the morning. think you'll save a buck by buying a used car? not so fast, prices are on the rise. we are minding your business next. this is unlike any car you've ever seen before.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. time for minding your business. and if you're in the market for a used car, you may have noticed they're more expensive now. that's because as the economy continues to struggle, people are holding on to their cars longer, making it more expensive

to get a decent used car on the market. >> i might have to sell mine. milestone for women comes to higher education for the first time they earned a majority of doctoral degrees. according to the council of graduate schools, women received 50.4% of the doctorates in the u.s. that means women dominate every level of higher education from a bachelors degree to ph.d. >> i think we can make it official now. walmart seems to be selling just about everything, that now includes cell phone service. the discount giant teaming up with t-mobile launching a no-contract family mobile plan in some 2,500 stores around the country starting next monday. the deal includes unlimited talk and text for $45 a month for the first line and another $25 for each additional line. coming up next on the most news in the morning, our new correspondent kaj larsen continues his series following team rubicon. it's been great stuff so far.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. intelligence officials say they've taken out nine alleged militants in pakistan. the group was hit by a suspected u.s. drone strike in north waziristan.

no word on who was targeted. but in the past week, u.s. drone strikes have killed more than 30 suspected militants. >> and those suspected attacks are a reminder of how dangerous places are in pakistan. yet for the past week, our newest correspondent kaj larsen has been traveling across afghanistan with some veterans. they have been helping flood victims in places where many rescue teams can't or won't go. joining us from pakistan is kaj larsen. what have you been seeing in the past couple of days? >> reporter: well, candy, we've been seeing that the aftermath of the devastating floods here continue to isolate many of the victims from aid. so in this next piece, you'll see me travel with team rubicon to one of the most affected regions. and we reach a population where it's estimated that only 5% to 10% of the people have had access to any medical aid.

>> reporter: when the floods in pakistan happened, i embedded myself with team rubicon. after 8,000 miles and three straight days of traveling from islamabad, rubicon arrives to a dire humanitarian situation. thousands of people who more than a month into the crisis still had not received any medical aid. >> reporter: it's important to identify the sickest patients first. while there was a lot of men lining up out here, the actual sickest patients were the women and children who were kept separate and they were in the back. we identified one baby who had all the signs and appearance of severe dehydration. and now i'm bringing supplies to the doctor so he can treat her. >> reporter: he is a member of the team. former marine william mcnulty like all members of team rubicon learned emergency life-saving skills in the military. >> what's the issue with this guy? >> the baby appears totally

floppy, totally unresponsive. >> we're going to bring this baby to see the doctor right now. >> diarrhea, vomiting. >> reporter: 9-month-old baby ali hassan is suffering from severe dehydration. a treatable illness, but one that's claimed the lives of hundreds of flood victims. >> how many diarrhea stools today? >> two times a day. >> two times a day, okay. >> i need a 10 cc syringe. >> do you have the 10 cc syringe? >> no. >> or 20? nothing? what's the biggest. >> almost there, guys. >> reporter: time is critical. baby ali's pulse is getting weaker. dr. dolan immediately starting oral rehydration therapy by syringe. i watch how quickly baby ali responds.

>> boom, baby woke up and sits for me as physician, one of the moments i know we saved a life. baby, what about 45 minutes later was sitting up. he was alert. eyes were -- it was, yeah, really magical in a way. >> how dire was that circumstance? >> oh, that baby could have been dead by tonight. >> reporter: for baby ali's worried mother, relief. well enough now to make the journey back home, we followed baby ali for a bit until we reached the end of the road. literally. this is the reality of pakistan in the aftermath of the floods. yes, we saw that baby make a miraculous recovery before our eyes, but now he still has to trek an hour home through the water to his house, which is surrounded by the same dirty water that got him sick in the first place.

>> any other sick ones? >> reporter: while rubicon team members continue to treat people, a local pakistani doctor informs us that there were more victims out there. despite recommendations not to move for safety reasons, we loaded up once more. this time with a police escort as we move even farther. one of the things about rubicon, it's not necessarily that they go places that others can't go. they go places others won't go. going as far as our escort will take us, we decided to hike it. >> people that don't come out because they're not liked in the village. >> now we're treating infants with diarrhea infection. >> reporter: team rubicon spent the next three days treating these two infants and thousands of others. but as team rubicon ended their mission, these former military vets felt they provided a small life raft in a sea of tragedy. >> i tried to lend some medical

expertise and some experience here and hopefully help some people and save some lives. >> one of the things that the veterans of t.r. talk about is that we're saving lives, not taking lives. >> reporter: you know, jim and candy, we had dinner with the members of team rubicon last night on the other night on their last night in town. and what we found after -- and discussed after we had treated almost 3,000 victims is that we were happy with our effort there, but at the end of the day, we realized we had just made a drop in the bucket of all the need here. >> looks like -- just the need is enormous. but nonetheless, a drop in the bucket is certainly something particularly to those that have been helped. can you give us -- as i understand it, this rubicon group is ex-military. has that made a difference, you think, in how they're greeted? or is it just, boy, here's relief and they don't really even notice that these are ex-military or even know?

>> reporter: they don't necessarily know or notice that the people who are receiving aid that we were former military. what i think is significant, though, is that we were there helping. and at this time of rising tension between the islamic world and the west, you talked about the drone strikes in pakistan earlier today. all of these incidents build a tremendous amount of resentment. on the flip side of that, you have guys like the team rubicon guys who spent the better part of the last decade training and fighting and often being in islamic countries. and now here they are around the anniversary of september 11th helping. and i think that's the kind of generosity of spirit that we want to portray to the world. >> it is, indeed, kaj larsen in islamabad, thank you so much for joining us this morning. it is 6:30. and that means time for this morning's top stories.

a vote is planned for turning over the military's don't ask, don't tell policy banning openly gay service members. senate majority leader harry reid plans to bring it to the floor monday as lawmakers work on the 2010 defense authorization bill. repealing the policy requires the pentagon's final report on the policy's impact on troops. and that's not due until december. bp has resumed drilling on its relief well in the gulf of mexico. crews are about 50 feet away from intersecting the ruptured well that leaked millions of gallons of crude into the ocean. a bottom kill procedure will be performed to kill that well perm lent innocently. voters heading to the polls in seven states and washington, d.c. the big story is delaware where a little known tea party candidate is poised to pull off a big upset in the republican primary for vice president joe biden's old seat. also developing this morning, what could be a step towards peace in the middle east.

this morning, secretary of state hillary clinton arrived in egypt. she's there to prod israel and palestinian leaders to press forward with peace talks. our senior correspondent ben wedeman is live in egypt. ben, good morning, what's happening there? >> reporter: well, candy, it appears that secretary of state hillary clinton is going to have to do a lot more prodding because these talks already are beginning to get botheringed down. it appears the main stumbling point is the question of israeli settlements in the west bank. the palestinians are saying that if israel resumes settlement construction after the 26th of september when its moratorium on construction comes to an end that they will pull out of the talks. israelis under political pressure from the coalition of benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister is saying that they're going to resume limited construction of those settlements. but the two sides just aren't meeting on any sort of compromise.

and secretary clinton is under a lot of pressure to somehow push them to an agreement of some sort to get these talks moving again. candy? >> and ben, it's jim acosta, just curious, we in the united states, we always jump to the logical question, which is, well, do we think that they can finally reach a deal on this? on the issues such as settlement, construction, and so forth. but i guess one question is, do we even have the right players on the field? do we even have the right diplomats in place to reach this sort of consensus? is it even possible given the nature of how things are going in that part of the world right now? >> reporter: well, jim, of course it's possible. and let's not forget we're in the middle east, the place were bargaining was invented. now, the palestinians are sort of taking the maximum position and the israelis moved a little bit saying that they will have some limited construction of

those settlements. and somehow the hope is that they will be able to after a lot of bargaining back and forth reach some sort of middle ground. because this is really a make or break issue on these talks. if the settlement issue can't be somehow finessed, the talks could fall apart. the united states has invested huge diplomatic capital in these talks. we heard in washington earlier this month that the americans are saying that they were hoping to have an agreement within a year. and here we are just two weeks into the process and already the process is starting to break down. so it's not over yet. there will be more talks in jerusalem tomorrow. hillary clinton, under a lot of pressure to make some sort of progress to give these talks credence. because otherwise, there's a skeptical audience on the israeli side and the palestinian side. some progress needs to be made. jim? >> and it's candy, failure basically isn't an option, is

it? maybe in the short run, but in the long run, is there anything to do other than pursue this for however long it takes? >> reporter: no, in fact, there is no alternative to failure except chaos and potentially a war. we have on the one hand hamas, which is eager to see these talks fail and they've been doing their best by resuming the attacks against israelis on the west bank. on the israeli side, benjamin netanyahu has a very shaky coalition, which is ready to just abandon him if he gives major concessions on the talks. the alternative is a return to chaos. and even though there is skepticism on both sides about the talks, nobody really wants to go back to the cycle of violence we've seen in this region for years now. candy? >> all right, ben wedeman joining us live this morning on some very crucial talks that are happening today with the secretary of state in that part of the world. ben, thanks so much. and our coverage of primary day continues in a few moments.

tina brown of the "daily beast" joins us next. we'll take a look at the key race in delaware and what's at stake there. it's 35 minutes past the hour.

it's election time. welcome back to the most news in the morning. it's the final primary day of this midterm season. and once again, the tea party is front and center. i feel like we've been talking about them for some time now. is it just me? >> like a year and a half, i think. some political alnalysts say th gop is in good position to take over in november. joining us to talk about burning political issues of the day is tina brown, editor in chief about "the daily beast." we want to start out because with our favorite subject, the tea party candidates because in delaware today there's yet another test of the strength of the tea party. give us your take on the tea party and how it's shaking things up and whether this is to the good or the bad for the gop. >> well, what i do think it is is the raw energy of the tea party is forcing a debate, not just within republican party, be in america itself about how do

we get our mojo back even if it's being expressed in a rage. but it is a negative rage. and the point about the tea party, they don't really have any solutions. it is a no vote, a no to what's happening in america today as opposed to yes, we want the tea party. >> and sometimes in a midterm, a no vote is enough. >> it sure is enough. >> it absolutely is. but at the same time it also sends a message to the general election about what has to be done. democrats in the next two years will be fighting off this monstrous obstruction all the time. but at the same time, it'll also mean the democrats have to get their act together. and in the end, it might be good for them because these extremists will ultimately not win the general election. >> well, that's what mike castle a is saying. running for that senate seat against o'donnell. mike castle basically saying that if christine o'donnell wins this primary, the democrats win that seat in the fall. and a lot of people had put that seat in the republican column.

>> absolutely. christine, you know, is actually so far to the right that, you know, she'd be sort of falling off the face of the planet if she got any further than that. but the american economy right now is in so much people's minds about how on earth we can fix this. and in a way, the tea party seems to express that anger. that's why at the "daily beast," we decided to put on a big summit called reboot america in new orleans, in which we'll bring forward 300 people to ask the question, how do we get our economy back on track? how do we brainstorm? and in fact, we even have general mccrystal coming to talk about how do we become a lean, mean, fighting machine in terms of leadership. >> he's somebody who knows how to stir things up. how do you focus -- how do you focus all of this passion out there right now? because if you want to give the tea party one thing, it is they have the passion, they have the energy out there to try to do something about this country. people are sort of sick of -- of the liberal agenda, which is to

perhaps have more government programs to get the economy going again. republicans seem, if you listen to democrats, want to only help big business. and the tea party is basically saying, neither of these guys are right, let's have less government. >> i think they have to get that passion back. mike castle is very much not a threat in delaware. in that case, the message is don't let all the passion be on the negative side. >> i'm not sure that centrist and passion is an oximoron. i know you've talked about about him as a bit of a bore, a little bit aloof. you're talking about this big mega jobs creation, reboot america summit you're doing. where has the president been on this? and has he sorted of create this atmosphere? >> i think that the president's issue is simply that he has a sort of delayed drop at the emotional moment when he needs to connect with the public. he has a habit of waiting too long and then coming out with a

considered statement. >> jeremiah wright, health care. >> exactly right. the window gets closed. it is a very important thing in leadership is to know when that window is open, get in there, and communicate with the people. he often talks about teachable moments, but i think he misses a lot of his. >> and getting back in our final moments to this jobs submit. there has been a lot of talk and certainly you hear it in the administration. we're looking at a 9.6 -- i think the last time we looked. and it was, it may go to 10% by the end of the year even according to the administration. why has it been so tough? and what can a summit do to change that? >> it's been tough because i think it's so defuse and incoherent. there's a drowning media drum beat because it's sexier, frankly, to say we're in the doldrums, it's not working. but the summit can bring together all of these creative people.

we're having this in new orleans because what a dynamic leader there. that city is coming back. we want to say look at the courage of new orleans, look at the creativity. and you can watch it all on the "daily beast" and see how we can fix it and improve. >> they haven't stopped fighting down in new orleans. that's for sure. tina brown, thank you so much for coming on. and good luck with what's happening. >> watch it all and tweet it and live streaming on the "daily beast." >> appreciate it. it is 6:43. still to come on the most news in the morning, rob's keeping an eye on hurricane igor. ready, set, shop. how you can get designer dresses, handbags at designer handbags. it is as jim said 44 minutes past the hour. nice calculator. i'm just trying to save money on my car insurance. you know, with progressive, you get the option to name your price. is that even possible? uh, absolutely. trade?

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welcome back. i'm rob marciano in your hurricane headquarters. breaking news overnight. julia became a hurricane overnight with winds at 75 miles per hour. it's still out there in the atlantic. we think this will for the most part feed the fish. this storm is giving the fish a handful right now. hurricane igor with winds of 135 miles an hour peaked at 150, still a category four storm. this is a beast.

it has weakened a little bit. but look at that eye. that is unbelievable how distinct that is. and just in the last couple of frames you can kind of see that westerly movement and then boom, boom, boom, starts to make a jog towards the right or north. and we've been looking for that to get it away from the leeward islands and the bahamas and away from the united states. and it looks like it'll do that. the big ridge that typically steers these storms has a big weakness in it. it'll remaining a major storm over the next few days and statistically speaking should stay away from the united states. a little bit closer to home. if you're traveling in the airports in the northeast, another front moving through. we had a couple showers move through the new york city area last night. it'll be breezy as this front rolls through, and pretty pleasant. and the only sore spot will be across the midsection, thunderstorms, some of which could become severe especially later on this afternoon. 93 degrees in dallas.

it's almost fall, right? 83 in st. louis, and 77 in the big apple. that's a quick check on weather. america morning is coming right back.

♪ happy to see their all paying attention in there this morning. welcome back to the most news in the morning. are you one of those shoppers who thrives on scoring big-ticket items at bargain basement prices? you could do without the elbows and crowds, right? >> well, we can now figure out a way for everyone to do this without the crowds. you can snap up those steeply discounted deals online. there is a catch, though. our alina cho explains the new online phenomenon.

>> we have ten minutes to purchase. >> reporter: it's 12:00, and at offices across america, these shoppers are going nuts. >> you don't think about budget, you put it in your cart and then you deal with it. >> reporter: the online store gilt group just opened and the clock is ticking. in just seconds, yes, seconds, designer dresses, shoes, and handbags get snapped up by buyers looking for a steel at bargain basement prices. it's the web version of the ultimate sample sale. >> you get caught up in the fever of the moment and people love it. it's like gambling of the horse races. am i going to get it? i want it. the power of competition. >> reporter: it's called deadline shopping. the idea is simple. entice customers with high-end designer labels at a great price, then give them a set amount of time to buy with a limited supply. at gilt group, membership is free, but you have to be invited by a member. >> people want a deal, but they

don't want the exact same deal everybody else is getting. so the brilliance of these sites is it makes you feel like you and a tiny handful of other people stumbled on to this great, fabulous find. and that's wonderful. >> it's like the biggest store in the world. >> reporter: this is where the magic starts at new york's brooklyn navy yard of all places. in this hot, dusty, 200,000 square foot facility. what some fashion addicts call the holy grail. gilt group's warehouse. >> how do you get people to buy clothing that they can't touch, can't feel, and can't try on? >> i think it's a couple of things. one is that it's appointment shopping. we have turned shopping into an event. >> reporter: that's for sure. >> i feel that shopping on gilt has turned me into a better multitasker than i was before. >> it fuses two of my major interests which are being lazy and shopping. >> reporter: think it's a fad? think again. gilt group was founded less than

three years ago. today it has nearly 3 million members, on track to do up to $500 million in sales this year. gilt was founded by two fashionistas. classmates at harvard business school. >> you don't know how many are left, you only have a limited amount of time. >> they're there for a day, but not the following day. so you know that unlike a store if you go in and there's not anything left, you think oh, not a great experience. but on gilt group you know you have to get there early. >> reporter: and because it's online shopping, each and every item sold is photographed at the gilt warehouse with a full team of stylists working around the clock. and that's key. but there is one issue. buyer's remorse. >> i think it's cute. it's fun. it's different than anything i have. >> reporter: and you definitely needed it? >> yes, just like i need to drink four diet cokes a day.

like that. that's how much i needed it. >> you know, when the pressure's on, sometimes you make mistakes. gilt group is the most popular and has the most buzz. there are other deadline shopping sites you may have heard of ideally, and ooh la la. many of them have to manufacture their clothes overseas. you can't make ten, you've got to make 1,000 or maybe 10,000. the department stores aren't going to buy all of those. enter gilt group, they buy in bulk at the discount and able to pass that savings on to a consumer. why don't they go to a t.j. max or marshall's or something like that? because then in the designer's eyes you lose cache. these sites are exclusive, invitation only. >> and 3 million people so far? >> well, so far, but still, you know, relatively speaking, fairly small. and it appears to have that

exclusivity. >> and i love that warehouse shop where you just saw the volume of merchandise there. it shows you how much they have available and, you know, with the immediacy factor lumped in, people can get what they want. >> it's incredible. and you know what? that warehouse in brooklyn, they have another one in tokyo. and they are building another one in louisville, kentucky. you know why it's louisville? it's the regional hub of u.p.s., and then they can ship out the packages quickly. isn't that clever? >> you did mention there were some harvard ladies who came up with this. >> you may have mentioned in the piece, but quickly returns? >> there is a return policy, but unfortunately just store credit. that's a point of contention for some of the shoppers. >> noting how addicted people are to that site, store credit probably not such a bad thing. >> it tends to work. >> you a member? >> i am a member. >> make me a member. >> i will. top stories coming your way after the break. ded

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good morning, everybody. it's tuesday, september 14th. i'm jim acosta. john has the morning off. >> and i'm candy crowley. here are this morning's top stories. we start your tax bill. congress back in session battling over whether to expire the bush tax cuts or extend them. if you're wondering what a tax hike would do your take home pay, we've got the numbers. you're not going to like them. colleges company recruiters really love. students looking for that leg up may be surprised. it's not always the ivy leagues that are favored by corporations. what are the best students hoping to get solid, well paid jobs? we've got the list. and too many teens are getting high on stuff in their own medicine cabinets. the dea is now asking parents to

get involved. we'll tell you about the fight to make cough medicine a prescription drug. but up first this hour, we dent forget. it's a political power house this tuesday and cnn is the place to watch it all go down. seven states head to the polls, voting in primaries that promise to make or break a candidate come november. and we're talking about specifically a few states out there. delaware is one of them where we could have a make or break election. >> attracting key races in delaware, but also in new york, wisconsin, new hampshire, d.c., rhode island, massachusetts, and my home state of maryland. but the hottest delaware, that's where it's shaping up to be a knockout match between tea party backed candidate christine o'donnell and moderate republican mike castle. this is all for a chance to snatch up joe biden's old seat. this race is being watched across the country. and we've got the best political team on the ground this morning

watching every move. and joining me right now on the phone is shannon travis. good morning, shannon. what does it feel like on the ground there? >> dramatic. and you've been following politics for a long time. the last time you've heard the words cannibalism, prostitution, and death threats used in a political race. that's what's going on right now here in this gop primary in delaware. let's pick through some of the specifics. as you just mentioned, christine o'donnell, she's the republican backed by the tea party express. they pledged to spend about $200,000 on her race. she's the more conservative. mike castle is considered the more moderate. his critics say liberal. in terms of the cannibalism, the christine o'donnell campaign say the republican state party here in delaware is eating its own, basically trying to do anything it can, according to her campaign, to make sure she does not win the nomination.

the state party chairman named tom ross, the chairman of the republican party here in delaware. they basically say that mike ross is in in bed with mike castle and the tea party express is using words like prostitution, strong language, and in terms of death threats, that same guy, tom ross, our brian todd is reporting that he's actually received a death threat via a website because of his support for mike castle. so it's very dramatic. voters are heading to the polls today. so hopefully this thing will be decided by later on this evening. >> okay. there's nasty and then there is ridiculous, sounds like, in some of those cases they've crossed that line into ridiculous. thanks so much. shannon travis for us on the ground there in delaware. >> who thought things would get so testy in delaware. >> they have nice, mild politicians up there. >> they do. other key races this morning, charlie rangel facing an ethics scandal and five democratic challengers including

popular assembly man adam clayton powell iv. former president bill clinton is voicing a last-minute robo call on rangel's behalf. over in washington, d.c. -- >> yes, mayor adrian fenty is facing off against vincent gray. and he could find himself out of a job. when fenty took office in 2007, he was a rising star. but his tough education reforms have ruffled feathers and he's trailing in the polls. and in new york, tea party challenger carl paladino is hoping to knock off rick lazio for governor. a former congressman backed by conservative leaders. and the race is a dead heat according to a new poll released saturday. still gunning for political office here in the empire state. >> exactly. at 7:40 eastern, we'll talk about the tea party and how it's dividing republicans when we're

joined by kate zernike author of "boiling mad: inside tea party america," and cnn is your source of all things politics. if you can't check us out on tv, check us out online. and this morning, we're learning more about last week's deadly explosion and fire in california. pg&e is beginning to inspect all of its gas pipelines in the state. now critics are warning regulation has been lax for years. so much so, they're saying there are thousands of old, potentially leaky pipes across the country. and the risk of another san bruno-like event are better than average. ted rowlands has the latest on the investigation in california. >> reporter: this gas station surveillance video shows the first moment of last thursday's explosion. watch closely as the man in the red vehicle gets out. first, you can see chunks of asphalt and debris, then a massive wall of flames shooting into the sky. within seconds, the fire grows larger.

a woman carrying a baby runs across the street away from the flames while others seem attracted to the blaze. some actually drive towards the fire. nobody knew what was going on. >> my first thought is the plane went down. and i run up half way down there, you know, the fire was pretty bad. >> reporter: across the street inside this grocery store, people say they first heard a strange hissing sound. now watch as the sliding doors push in from the explosion. watch it again in slow motion. the store quickly turns to chaos, people start running away from one of the exits while others desperately try to get out of the store. still unanswered, what caused this massive explosion. many people here are getting impatient waiting for answers. >> these are neighbors. the woman down the block, my dog played with her dog, and she's dead. it's not fair. >> reporter: the investigation is centered on this section of

pipe installed in 1948. did the gas company pg&e miss warning signs that something was wrong before the explosion? several people in this neighborhood say in the days leading up to the explosion, they smelled gas. one person even says he saw and talked to a pg&e crew about a gas leak. but pg&e says according to their records, since the month of july, they've only been here twice. >> in one instance, there was a small leak at the meter, which we replaced, fixed it right away. and in a second instance, there wasn't a leak found anywhere. >> reporter: we may never know if there was a second leak and if so whether or not it was associated with the explosion. the pipe itself was last inspected in march. keeping them honest, we asked for the results of that inspection, but we were told they couldn't be provided because of an ongoing investigation. we got the same response at a press conference. >> that is part of the ntsb investigation and i really cannot share the findings of that particular assessment.

>> reporter: pg&e is taking responsibility, setting up a $100 million fund for victims. this week they plan on giving everyone whose home was destroyed up to $50,000, no strings attached. they claim it's the right thing to do. what's still unclear is what pg&e may have done wrong and whether there's a chance it could happen again. ted rowlands, cnn, san bruno, california. >> boy, you really feel for that one resident who said you know, my children play on the playground here and it's melted. >> right. >> you've got to feel for those folks in terms of how -- >> you do but also -- that and the broader implication -- the immediate horribleness of being out of homes and the deaths, but then, yikes, across the country. you don't know what's underneath it. you don't think about it, actually. >> and there are the responsibilities of the utilities to keep everybody safe, as well. all right. it is 7:08. time for a quick check of this morning's headlines. and rob, i see that swirling eye behind you. i guess igor's still out there.

>> very much so, guys. category four storm. not shrunk but weakened a little bit. but nonetheless, with winds of 135 miles an hour, this is a beast. we have tropical storm winds that go almost out to 200 miles from the center. and in the last couple of frames of the satellite loop, notice a bit of a jog to the north. that's what we've been waiting for in order to see this thing start to make that turn we want to see. and this is the forecast from the national hurricane center. makes an abrupt right turn and we do think it'll miss the united states and head towards bermuda. it will remain a major hurricane for the next few days and then weaken somewhat as it heads towards cooler waters to the north. hurricane julia, this was a tropical storm yesterday, now it's a hurricane. our fifth of the season. our activity continues to be ramping up here now that we're in prime time. but relatively speaking, guys,

even though it's been very, very active, we've been pretty lucky as far as landfalls are concern. we've got one other disturbance in the caribbean. and that may affect parts of south texas. we'll talk more about that in about 30 minutes. plus, there was just a little earthquake south of the border in the baja california, about 100 miles east of tijuana. maybe folks in socal felt a little rumbling. >> we've been lucky for so long, rob, i'm starting to feel like we're due, but i don't want to feel that way. >> don't be saying that. >> i'm sorry. my mistake. >> thanks, rob. we appreciate it. congress is back in session after a long summer recess. and you think they would come back in a really warm and fuzzy sort of mood, ready to get along with each other, get things done. your taxes top the agenda. wait to hear what happens to your take home pay if the tax cuts are not extended. plus, does the ivy league

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. let's talk taxes. it's the hot button topic on capitol hill now that congress is back in session. the big debate, whether to extend the bush tax cuts. it didn't take long for senate minority leader long to throw down the gauntlet. >> americans, mr. president, have had it. they're tired of democratic leaders in washington pursuing the same government driven programs that have done nothing but add to the debt and the burden of government. we can't allow this administration to demand that small business owners in this country pay for its own fiscal recklessness. and that's why i'm introducing legislation today that ensures that no one in this country will pay higher income taxes next year than they are right now. >> maybe it's because all these democrats and republicans got plenty of rest during their congressional break. our congressional correspondent brianna keilar is live in

washington this morning. brianna, we're back into session just waun day. and they're firing back and forth at each other as if they didn't have time off. >> this is the big battle playing out over the next weeks before congress is again going to leave in early october for the election season. republicans have said these bush-era tax cuts, we want they will to continue for everybody, including the wealthiest americans, of course the white house wants them to expire for people making $250,000 or more. republicans say that's going to hit small businesses that create jobs. so on really last week, you had republicans saying no, we want them all to continue. on sunday, of course, we saw john boehner the top republican in the house kind of concede on a sunday show saying, look, if all i have to choose from is saying yes to people making $250,000 or less continuing to get these tax cuts, okay.

but what it shows is a little republican disunity on this issue. you see mitch mcconnell not giving any ground there. he's saying no, we want it across the board. you see boehner's own deputy cantor saying we want these to continue across the board. and president obama really taking aim at some of the jumbled message here. >> we could get that done this week. but, we're still in this wrestling match with boehner and mcconnell about the last 2% to 3% where on average we'd be giving them $100,000 for people making $1 million or more. >> and, of course, republicans up until this point, jim, one of the things, especially in the house, that they've had has been cohesion that they've all -- a lot of -- they mostly vote together. they really stick together. they're on message. and so this just shows, you know, sort of different things going on between the top

republican in the house and then some of his deputies very close to him. and also, of course, the top republican over in the senate. >> yeah, brianna, it's interesting to hear the president say that at that backyard in northern virginia yesterday. you know, he said that -- i'm in this wrestling match with john boehner, but boehner was the one who came out on sunday sounding like he was ready to make a deal. are we making a deal? or are we having a wrestling match here? it's interesting to hear the president come out and say that. couldn't the minority leader argue he was simply trying to govern? >> no, certainly -- certainly he could argue that. and what you will hear from his aides is that he was trying to undercut a white house argument that obviously they were fearful was taking hold. and that is that republicans are holding tax cuts for the middle class hostage for tax cuts for the wealthy. but what you're hearing from republicans sources on this is that perhaps boehner tipped his hand a little too soon. that this was something he

could've held out on as they argue for this. obviously in the house, the republicans don't have a whole lot of control about what's going to pass. and there are a lot of democrats who, you know, feel the way republicans do about this tax cut. >> all right. brianna keilar, our congressional correspondent in washington this morning. thanks, brianna. and if congress does nothing about these bush tax cuts and they're allowed to expire at the end of the year, there's going to be serious pain. the associated press reporting americans earning between $20,000 and $30,000 a year would see a $756 increase in their income tax. for those earning between $50,000 and $75,000, prepare for a hike of over $1,100, and if you're earning between $100,000 and $200,000 a year your paycheck will take a hit of over $3,600. and candy, you just boil it down in dollars and cents there. this is real money we're talking about in the middle of a very painful recession. but at the same time, the question has to be asked, nobody's asking this in washington.

can the country afford any of these tax cuts? >> right. right. $2.8 trillion it will cost to extend those just for the middle class for those making $250,000 -- $3.5 trillion if it's across the board. that's a lot of money to add to the deficit, although there's some people arguing it doesn't. it will play out. >> yes, we'll be hearing about this for some time to come. >> let me talk about what's in your medicine cabinet. >> let's do that. nyqill, roeb tus sum, it is 19 minutes past the hour.

everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there's a big difference between fees and taxes. but...they're the same. it's a tax.

it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. there's a big difference between fees and taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it's a tax. now he says it isn't true. we didn't raise taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely. welcome back to the most news in the morning. education is said to be an investment. don't we know that. one that will pay off in the future. and when it comes to landing that job after graduation, you might be a little surprised to learn that businesses are favoring graduates of big state schools. according to a "wall street journal" survey, the top three schools penn state, texas a&m, and the university of illinois. joining me now to talk about this is deputy personal finance editor jennifer merritt. she oversaw the research for the

"wall street journal." the bottom line here is for that first job, businesses seem to be preferring not the ivy leagues, but others. these are no slouch schools. this is not like, oh, gosh, let's take second best. those are great schools. why, though, this over the ivy leagues? >> for these entry level jobs people are hoping to grow candidates into the company with. and so one of the reasons is they come very academically prepared. they've all had a major. so they've really got the great, deep skills in a subject. and then because they've got to really fend for themselves at these big schools and take advantage of various resources and network and the wide networks. they're also sort of able to come in, hit the ground running, and that well roundedness. >> ivy league graduates are seen as less -- >> they're less technically prepared in a lot of ways. most ivy league schools don't have majors in a traditional sense, don't have a lot of that bread and butter course work that teaches you market metrics, to be a marketing assistant.

>> is there -- what does the ivy league offer? there has to be -- >> of course, offers a lot. a lot of the recruiters said there's definitely a clear split. the ivy league students offer a lot of cache, that prestige, a lot of that put you in front of a client right away kind of thing and they're very, very smart. if you're in a type of job, a type of position where someone can come in and they're looking for someone to stay a couple of years and be in that rotational program, a lot of companies will look more to the ivy leagues. >> the cache as in five yale grads -- >> right, big leagues, that's part of their stock and trade. that's never going to go away. >> right. and they bring networking. >> absolutely. that network and that name is something you can really kind of bank on. >> and so you also found internships? >> absolutely. internships are the new full-time hiring. that's what a lot of schools and companies told us. a lot of companies said that

they've developed internships so they're much more robust. and then they go out and seek -- interns at sophomore year. and often in the first few weeks of your sophomore year. then they judge you and will sometimes offer you a job even before your junior year, but usually before your senior year. >> let me just ask you -- interesting study -- is there a take away? don't go to an ivy league school? or go to the university of illinois? what's the take away from this? >> i think the take away is is that if you're looking for some of the fast-growing jobs, big jobs that you don't have to go to an ivy league school. you can go to a really great state school or other private institutions and be just as hirable. when i went to school, i went to a journalism school where i knew i'd get a good internship and a good job. and that's carried out in a bigger way now on the part of employers. go to school, if you know what you want to do, pick a school where they're strong in that and there's a lot of employers coming. and if you're thinking about a school, ask the career services

office who comes to the campus to recruit. >> thank you so much. >> my pleasure. president obama talking to students and teachers around the country today. it's his second annual back to school speech. so what's his message? ed henry live at the white house with a preview. >> well, candy, that's right. it's not just back to school for students, but for the president, as well. he'll be in philadelphia, and we're told he's going to get a little personal. i'll have those details straight ahead on american morning. imagine if it were this easy to spot the good guys. you know, the guys who always do a super job. well, it is. just get the superpagesmobile app on your phone. and look for a business with the superguarantee®. you'll get the job done right, or we'll step in and help make it right. so, protect yourself. use your phone to find a business with the superguarantee®. only from superpages.com®.

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numbers about our educational system in this country. and president obama will deliver a second back to school message to the nation's students today. and at this time last year, there was a lot of complaining before he gave that speech. conservatives were worried the president would try to indoctrinate the nation's children to support his political agenda. ed henry joins us now to talk about this. and ed, what is on the lesson plan today? no indoctrination in the plan today? >> that's right, jim. this president has talked about before about teachable moments. i guess he's taking it literally today. there was a lot of charges of indoctrination last year, but it

was pretty straightforward. essentially, study hard, stay in school. pretty straightforward, and that's why this year there's been very little controversial in the run up to this. the president will give a personal talk about when he was a student, how he had identity issues having a white mother, black father, and a father who was not really there for him. he gets personal, tries to connect with his students. but then talks interestingly about both the fact it's a time of war right now and this tough economy, telling the students at one point "you read about the war in afghanistan, you hear about the recession we've been through, you see it in your parents' faces and sense it in their voice. a lot of you are having to act a lot older than you are to be strong for your family while your brother or sister is serving overseas. to look after younger siblings while your mom works that extra shift to take on a part-time job while your dad is out of work." you see the president there trying to connect, not just on education, which is a central issue for so many families, but also about this economic recession that's hit so many families hard all around the

country. they've heard all these political messages right now in the midterm election. he's trying to keep this non-political. i'm told the president's got a fundraiser in philadelphia next week. some people are wondering why didn't the president combine this official speech, do it next week when he's going to do some fund raising in philadelphia. i'm hearing he just wanted this to be completely separate. he didn't want to be doing any fund raising on the same day he's giving this speech. didn't want a whiff of politics. >> probably a good idea not to have the fundraiser on the same day he's talking to the students. next he'll be accused of hitting the kids up for lunch money. >> campaign contributions. >> exactly. >> ed henry, thanks, ed, appreciate it. we'll have live coverage of president obama's back to school message from philadelphia today. you can watch that right here on cnn starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern. it is 7:30 in the east, 30 minutes past the hour. and that means time for this morning's top stories. secretary of state hillary clinton is hoping to write a new chapter in an old mideast drama.

this morning she's in egypt for talks. negotiations are part of a process aimed at closing a peace deal within the next 12 months. today the french senate is scheduled to vote on whether or not to outlaw burqas. somebody could be fined up to $190. the lower house of parliament overwhelmingly passed the legislation back in july. and intelligence officials say they have killed nine alleged militants in pakistan. the group was hit by a suspected u.s. drone strike in north waziristan. there's no word on exactly who was targeted. but in the past week, suspected u.s. drone strikes have taken out more than 30 suspected militants. and those suspected attacks are a reminder of just how dangerous some places in pakistan are. yet for the past week, our newest correspondent kaj larsen has journeyed to some of pakistan's most remote areas bringing us unprecedented

coverage. >> they are called team rubicon and they don't ask questions, they just spring into action, risking their own lives to save the lives of others. here's our kaj larsen from islamabad, pakistan, with an inside look you'll only see on cnn. >> reporter: when the floods in pakistan happened, i embedded myself with team rubicon. after 8,000 miles and three straight days of traveling from islamabad, rubicon arrives the a dire humanitarian situation. thousands of people who more than a month into the crisis still had not received any medical aid. >> we're going to triage people and identify the sickest patients first. while there was a lot of men lining up out here, the actual sickest patients were the women and the children who are kept separate and they are in the back. we identified one baby who had all of the signs and appearance of severe dehydration. and now i'm bringing the

supplies to dr. dolan so he can treat her. >> reporter: he is a member of the team. former marine william mcnulty, like all members of team rubicon learned emergency life saving skills in the military. >> what's the issue with this guy? >> the baby appears totally floppy. totally unresponsive. >> we're going to bring this baby to see the doctor right now. >> diarrhea, vomiting. >> 9-month-old baby ali hassan is in critical condition, suffering from severe dehydration. a treatable illness, but one that's already claimed the lives of hundreds of flood victims. >> how many diarrhea stools today? >> two times a day. >> two times a day okay. >> i need a 10 cc syringe. >> do you have the 10 cc syringe? >> no. >> or 20? >> no. >> nothing? what's the biggest?

>> almost there, guys. >> time is critical. baby ali's pulse is getting weaker. dr. dolan immediately starts rehydration therapy by syringe. i watched how quickly baby ali responded. >> boom, baby woke up. for me as a physician, one of those moments where i know we saved a life. >> baby, what, about 45 minutes later was sitting up, he was alert. eyes were -- it was really magical in a way. >> how dire was that circumstance? >> oh, that baby could have been dead by tonight. >> reporter: for baby ali's worried mother, relief. >> i know you're feeling better. >> reporter: well enough now to make the journey back home, we followed baby ali a bit until we reached the end of the road, literally. this is the reality of pakistan in the aftermath of the floods. yes, we saw that baby make a miraculous recovery before our

eyes. but now, he still has to trek an hour home through the water to his house, which is surrounded by the same dirty water that got him sick in the first place. >> any other sick ones? >> while rubicon team members continue to treat people, a local pakistani doctor informs us that there were more victims out there. despite recommendations not to move for safety reasons, we loaded up once more. this time with a police escort as we move even farther. one of the things about rubicon, it's not necessarily that they go places that others can't go, they go places that others won't go. >> reporter: going as far as our escort will take us, we decided to hike it. >> places people overlook. >> exactly. >> people that don't come out because they're not liked in the village. >> reporter: now we're treating infants who have diarrhea, infection.

team rubicon spent the next three days treating these two infants and thousands of others. but as team rubicon ended their mission, these former military vets felt they had provided a small life raft in a sea of tragedy. >> i try to lend some medical expertise and experience here and hopefully help some people and save some lives. >> one of the things the veterans of t.r. talk about is that we're saving lives not taking lives. >> reporter: you know, jim and candy, when we finished the mission with team rubicon, we did exactly the same procedure that we did when we'd finish a mission in the service. we did an after action report. and when we got together the night after the mission and assessed what we had done, we were very proud of the fact that we had treated almost 3,000 people in the remote areas of pakistan. but we also acknowledge that it was just a drop in the bucket in terms of the amount of aid that's needed here. >> kaj, let me ask you. you're going under these remote areas, are they surprised to see

you? what is the initial reaction when you just kind of wander up and start helping? >> the initial reaction, candy, is one of gratitude. and frankly it really at that point doesn't matter to the people that we're helping what our background there is. surprised and happy to see us at that point. overall, a very positive reaction when you're delivering aid. >> and i suspect one that's gratifying to you all. thank you so much, kaj larsen, we appreciate your reports this week. the final day of the primary elections is getting underway in several states. there are a couple more to go. the tea party candidates are hoping to make a big splash, but are they playing into the hands of democrats. kate zernike is up next.

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three tea party candidates are looking to stage the next big upset today. we're tracking those races closely in new york, new hampshire, and especially delaware.

the republican primary for senate in delaware has everybody talking. mike castle is up against christine o'donnell who is backed by the tea party and former alaska governor sarah palin. >> we know who that is. one person who wouldn't be surprised by another tea party win is kate zernike. she is the author of the book "boiling mad: inside tea party america." and it does feel like we're lly living in their world. let me ask you about this race in delaware right now. i mean, a lot of predictions are that christine o'donnell could pull off this upset, but then there's pushback in these last waning days saying mike castle's got this, he's going to pull this off. what is your sense looking at this race? could this actually happen? >> it could. >> where did this come from? >> the same place that joe miller came from in alaska and all these places. people have spent so much time focusing on the tea party rallies and signs that they've forgotten to think about how the tea party's been organizing. while we've all been talking

about these radical lies and their signs, they've been talking about really a hostile takeover of the republican party, which is what this is. they're really trying to move the party to the right. and that's what christine o'donnell wants to do. mike castle has won more than ten statewide elections -- >> including governor. >> including governor. and they only have one congressman. so he's a really formidable candidate. >> delaware's not alaska. and he sees it coming and lisa murkowski did not see it coming in alaska. it'll be interesting to see what will be a bigger surprise. whether she wins or he wins. let me ask you, when it comes to this delaware race, we saw that she got endorsed by sarah palin, by the tea party express. but freedom works, which is dick armey, former republican leader in the house, it's his group. but that group which has provided a lot of the organization and the structure for the tea party movement said, you know what? we're not going to endorse her because we don't think she can win. it seems to me there's a split

in the tea party over is it about fielding candidates who can win in november? or is it about sending a message to the republican party win or lose? >> and look, freedom works did, indeed say that, and i think they are much more savvy about how politics and washington works. but you have to remember for a lot of these tea party activists, they're new to politics and it's become more of a religion to them. the people i've talked to they feel this is the most important things they've done with their lives. they really believe in this. >> a lot of this is real. >> it's very real. we've seen all of these victories. and if this happens in delaware it's going to be the zeal of these activists. but sometimes they hit up against reality. and reality isn't delaware. it's a much more moderate state, which is why mike castle's been able to win. >> and you made a fascinating point a couple of minutes ago when you said there's tea party winners plotting a hostile takeover of the republican party. you've gone to many meetings

with them and they're not very guarded when it comes to making comments. they're not as political as some of the professional politicians in washington. what are they saying behind the scenes in terms of this takeover? are they basically saying we're coming after the republican party and we want to be in charge of it? >> yeah. as one of the characters in my book says, to get rid of the democrats, we have to get rid of the republicans. they want to make their voices heard. they want to move the party back to the right. >> what does washington look like if some of these -- we haven't got tten to the ball he yet, which is november. what does it look like if some of these tea party members -- particularly in the senate, where one person can have a big effect? >> we've heard from rand paul who is the candidate in kentucky. he says when he gets to washington, he wants to ban together four or five other conservatives and top up the senate for a week and come up

with an amendment to the constitution. i don't think it's going to be gridlock all the time, but i do think there's going to be a lot of further polarization. there are some people who say that allows people in the middle to find more common ground. >> and gridlock equals less government. >> absolutely. >> let me ask you about what the vice president just recently said. he referred to the republican party as the republican tea party. and i'm just curious -- are democrats getting a little too getty about this scenario they think is unfolding that on election day all of these tea party candidates because democrats perceive them as too extreme are going to fall on their face? is that as likely to happen if the democrats see fit if this is a wave election? you could see the democrats wrong on that. >> i think the democrats are to a certain degree a little too getty on that. it's a little bit race by race. in about ten races across the country, there are third party tea party candidates that could hand that race to the democrats. but that's ten races when we're

talking about 100 competitive seats in the house. so i think that -- i think that what we need to watch is the tea party energy. again, it's all about organizing, what they're doing behind the scenes. and the republicans and the democrats need to take a lesson from that. >> and they've got the passion, which is why you're seeing people come out trying to get democrats energized and passionate. that's why he's talking about sarah palin and glenn beck running the republican party. trying to get democrats worried about what may be coming down the pike. kate zernike, thanks for joining us this morning. appreciate your time. >> thanks, kate. getting high is getting too easy for teens. the dea says the war on drugs is moving to the shelves in your local pharmacy. just ahead, find out the agency's plans for cough medicine. it is 46 minutes after the hour.

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and we do have breaking news to report this morning. we can report at this hour that the female hiker sarah shourd has been detained in iran for over a year now has been released. and our reza sayah is working his sources in islamabad right now. also working on this story, but this deal for her family is apparently coming to an end. not necessarily the case for the other two hikers. >> no, the other two male, one her fiance, the other a friend. they'd been hiking along the

iran/iraqi border. iran has been very intransigent about this case. it sounds as though the other two will be tried for espionage. we heard that sarah shourd has been sick. her family was quite worried about her. we are going to assume that the $500,000 in bail check cashed. >> that iran has been demanding before they released shourd has been paid an they'll get her out of there pretty darn quickly. the swiss embassy has been working since we have no relations there. so it's, you know, great news. but it just kind of underlines that those two young men have also been there for more than a year and remain there. and it must be tough for her because sean bauer, joshua fattal both staying behind and i imagine they have a close bond now. they had one before and they sure have one now. >> one thing we heard yesterday

is wondering about the money to be paid. almost felt like ransom to be paid and this was essentially bail money that was supposed to be paid on her behalf to be released. and with the understanding, obviously, under iranian law to come back for her trial. she will be good for gone leaving the country and for her own good, obviously. >> i mean, i question the has been all along and going on for days expecting her to be released. >> not sure if this was going to happen. >> because of the money thing and sounded like it was going to go and the question is, why? iran has not been known for humanitarian gestures over time. the claim ear hen family's fears about her health have been ongoing since the mothers vizzed sot time ago and it seems to me

the iranian government always working it. there's something else going on. >> it felt as if there's diplomatic string attached to the fate of the three and now there's a back story behind this as to why this is happening now and why just her and as we have been mentioning the last couple of minutes here about this developing story, this breaking story that sarah shourd is about to be released from iran or she is released in iran is exactly, you know, what happens next to these other two men. that's the big question is what happens to josh fattal and sean bauer. we have to find out. >> our reporter is working his sources. meantime, we'll be back right after this.

last year over 8,000 people landed in emergency rooms across the u.s. all because they were misusing over the counter cough su press sants. most of them were teenagers. the drug enforcement administration called in for reinforcements to tackle the problem. joining us from atlanta

elizabeth cohen. e liz weather, seems to me everybody's always sort of gone to teenagers, looked at cough medicine to get cheap alcohol and this is more than that. >> right. this is very different. this is a very powerful drug that when combined with other drugs can cause death. so what the drug enforcement agency wants the know is they're asking the fda will it save lives to change the rules and make these cough medicines by prescription only. carl was an all-american teen. good looking, talented and popular. but carl had a secret. for much of his high school years he was getting high on over the counter cough syrup. his mother talked about the effects of drugs and alcohol but never thought to talk about cough su press sants until one morning she couldn't wake him up.

>> it was too late. >> reporter: that was in 2003. since, fedco is on a mission to make sure other parents are aware it can be abused. when she first discovered empty bottles of the stuff in the home never occurred to her carl could be doing something dangerous but on the day he died it hit her. it was in the medicine cabinet. >> it is inexpensive. the fact is the kids don't have to have a scary drug dealer to obtain it. >> reporter: according to the partnership of drug-free america kids report sy busing. the su press sants. the ingredients is dex. it is found in all sorts of products on drugstore shelves. when you take a lot of it it can create a euphoria and also raise your body temperature, your blood pressure and your heart rate. and then if it's mixed with other drugs, it can kill you.

dex-related emergency room visits increased more than 70% from 2004 to 2008. so the drug enforcement administration is asking for help. they want advice from the food and drug administration on whether to make products available by prescription only. some say this is going overboard. >> when you've got inhale lant abuse four times higher, marijuana abuse many times higher, this is not the most serious threat facing a lot of families. >> reporter: cough medicine makers say the products help millions of people and parents are the key to curbing abuse. >> many parents do not talk to their children but we know that parent that is talk to their children have a 50% decrease in using drugs. >> reporter: missy agrees. she says restricting these med seasons to prescription only probably won't help. >> might be, you know, a short term quick fix so it's the access is still there.

>> now, the companies that make these cough sup press sants say keep it over the counter but make it illegal to sell it to anyone under the age of 18. candy? >> thanks so much, elizabeth cohen. still to come, the latest in the american hiker released from custody in iran. we are back in 90 seconds.

welcome to "american morning" for this tuesday, september 14th. i'm candy crowley. >> i'm gym acosta. we have a lot to talk about this morning. may feel like ground hog day but it's primary day. polls in seven states opening this morning and all eyes on delaware where a little known tea party candidate looking to pull off a stunning upset. congress is back in session. they're battling over the bush tax cuts and whether to let them expire. republicans are splintering and democrats are threatening to defect their party position.

this is all with your paycheck on the line. a live report from the nation's capital in a moment. more video of last week's deadly gas explosion and fire in california. pg&e said they'll set aside millions to help rebuild the neighborhood affected. >> go to cnn.com/amfix. we'll be reading some of your comments throughout the morning. and breaking news just in to cnn. iran state-run television reporting american hiker is sar shourd is released. a lawyer for the 32-year-old said she would be set free once the $500,000 bond was paid. >> shourd is leaving behind fiancee and her friend shane bauer and joshua fattal.

they allegedly strayed across the iraqi border into iran in a hike. >> we'll continue to follow the story all morning long and the latest developments as they come in but the good news, we're hearing that sarah shourd is released and reaching out to the families of the hikers for a comment and all of that we're developing all morning long. and that animation and music can only mean one thing. coffee or tea, america? we're about to find out. polls are opening this morning in seven states and washington, d.c. and the primary race with the biggest buzz is in delaware where tea party favorite christine o'donnell has a chance to upset mike castle in the republican race for senate. >> another race with national implications is unfolding in washington, d.c. where we could be witnessing a referendum on education reform. major fenty fighting for his job

after firing hundreds of teachers and stepping on toes and in new york 80-year-old congressman charlie rangel is battling for his job, too. he is facing five democratic challengers as well as an ethics scandal that threatens to sink a 22-year career. >> members of congress facing reelection in a few weeks back at work returning from summer recess yesterday. if congress does nothing and the bush tax cuts allowed to expire at the end of the year, there's going to be serious pain. get this, associated press reporting, look at the numbers. americaning earning between $20,000 and $30,000 a year see a $756 increase in the income tax. those $50,000 and $75,000, a hike of over $1,100. between $100,000 and $200,000, you take a hit of, look at that number, $3,600. a lot on the line. >> people are always asking why elections are so relevant. >> they matter. >> now we know.

brianna keeler is back in washington. certainly doesn't take long for the battle to begin over the bush tax cuts. >> no. looking at the figures, the kind of money people would be paying if it expires, you see in this recession you see why this is such a huge political issue. this is the big battle. this is the issue that's going to be playing out here in the next few weeks before congress leaves again in early october ahead of the election and if this is the big battle, the battle lines have started to get mud by because, of course, president obama most democrats said that they want tax cuts for people making $250,000 or less to continue and then for folks making more than that to expire. republicans generally speaking have said across the board is what they want for these tax cuts and everyone to continue and not see the tax bill increase saying small businesses fall into that section of folks who are $250,000 or more.

but of course, john boehner, the top republican in the house, saying this weekend that if he had to choose between nothing or just getting these tax cuts extended for folks making $250,000 or less he would go with that. and now, what you see are other republicans not really joining ranks with him there. mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the senate and even his own -- even boehner's own deputy eric cantor as well as the conference chairman mike pence saying, look, we are fighting for across the board tax cuts and boehner aides this morning reiterating that this is his goal, this is boehner's goal to continue with the tax cuts across the board despite what he said this weekend. >> brianna, i mean, the house minority leader did take the comments over the weekend saying that he would accept a deal that would involve just keeping those tax cuts for people making less than $250,000. and then the president said i'm still in the wrestling match

with john boehner and mitch mcconnell. how did the minority leader's office take that? >> well, again, you know, they're saying that they're fighting for tax cuts across the board. that they don't, you know, that they don't -- you know, actually, jim, can you repeat what you said? i think i missed what you said. >> i'm sorry. i'm just saying that over the weekend the minority leader said that he would accept tax cuts for just folks making less than $250,000 a year and then the president came out yesterday and said i'm in this wrestling match with john boehner and i thought it was kind of interesting to get the minority leader's office response to that and from what i understand that they have sort of responded saying, what's the wrestling match all about? >> what they're saying is what he said is if he were really painted into a corner, he would go along with it. but again, he then reiterated that he's looking for tax cuts

across the board and the whole point of this when you talk to boehner aids is undercut the white house's argument. white house democrats said republicans are holding tax cuts for the middle class hostage to -- for tax cuts for the wealthy and this is something that obviously republicans were fearful was beginning to resonate with people. and so, that according to boehner's office is why he took that tack but they're continuing to push on this, jim, saying the xwoel remains across the board tax cuts and other republican sources saying, true, but perhaps boehner tipped the hand too soon on this. >> it is no doubt to have trouble hearing my question because something huge crashed here in the middle of asking my questions. >> everybody okay? >> i saw you flinch and i thought, boy, it means it must have been pretty darn loud. brianna keiler in washington, thanks so much. >> have a good morning.

>> cnn political producer shannon travis said it's rough. a live report is coming up. less than ten minutes we'll talk to steve perry, cnn education contributor of why today's primary in washington, d.c. could affect school reform nationwide. and more on that breaking news out of iran. iran state-run television reporting that american hiker sarah shourd is released. shourd was jailed in iran more than a year now. >> cnn has a producer on the ground tracking the latest developments in teheran. what have you learned? >> hello? >> hi. shazad, it's candy crowley. what can you tell us? >> candy crowley, we heard she is released from prison and haven't seen her yet and she's supposed to be -- they're supposed to bring her to the hilton hotel and hopefully get the reporters take a look at her

and maybe talk to her. we are outside the hotel waiting for her to arrive. so of course we'll -- police cars around here. just clearing the way. we have to wait and see. i heard that the swiss ambassador and sarah shourd's lawyer at the prison. they have not been here yet. >> and what can you -- what is your take on why they're releasing her? i know the iranian government said, well, because she is sick and as soon as she can post bail we'll let her go. but is there an overarching political reason to let her go after this time? >> i'm sorry. i didn't hear the last of the question. could you repeat it again? >> sure. we know that sarah has been sick but is there a political reason that iran decided to let her go at this time? >> this could have to do with the -- what is known here as a

struggle between the state and the administration, the government. the state being the clergy, the statesmen and the statesmen and the supreme leader and his people against the administration of ahmadinejad. not that they're struggling of a fight but rivalry between them. people here saying that ahmadinejad wants to release the prisoner prior to the arrival in new york for the meeting of the united nations and the state did not like this idea and also -- [ inaudible ] saying if she is guilty, why is she leaving? why she is not guilty, why is she kept in prison so long? there is something going on here that we can't say what yet. >> thank you so much. that is cnn producer.

we thank you so much for taking this time and cnn continuing to follow. very, very happy day for the shourd family. less so for the other two men, young men who are left behind and remain imprisoned. iran said they were spying while they were hiking along the iraq-iran border. >> if anything develops, we'll bring it to you live here on cnn. meantime, we are trying to reach out to the families of those hikers for comment from them. obviously the shourd family must be very happy to hear that sarah shourd is apparently coming home. let's make a quick turn over to rob marciano and the extreme weather center. rob, you are keeping your eye on the tropics and hurricane igor. do they ever just dissipate and go away? somebody will take some kind of thumping somewhere, right? >> yeah. it depends on right now if you live underneath the water, a fish, getting a bit of a thumping and waves across the northern caribbean islands.

bermuda's going to be under this thing's fetch and the u.s. will see some big-time surf over the weekend. head to the shore and bring your board. you'll do fine. talk about the track of this thing. there it is. we're starting to see a northward progression. good news. missing caribbean. bermuda, may miss you. we're not sure yet and pretty sure it misses the u.s. and category 4 storm for a few cycles an enthen eventually weaken. julia, as well, another disturbance in the caribbean and talking more about it in 30 minutes. >> thank you, rob. appreciate it. still to come on the most news in the morning, we are going to take a look at the mayor's race of washington and what the outcome could mean for education reform nationwide. contributor steve perry joins us next.

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bringian fenty in a fight against vincent gray. at the heart of the matter, radical changes to the struggling d.c. schools by the chancellor, a woman the president praised while running for president. joining me now steve perry, cnn's education contributor. i know this is framed certainly as a race that is about whether you can do education reform and certainly they've tried very hard in the district but isn't this as well about how you go about education reform because there's been a lot of criticism about rea and her not kind of gathering alliances around her to do things that are tough to do. >> there's no more room for negotiation. chancellor rea understands people are dying without education. we don't take time to negotiate with people that created the problem. at some point or another,

individuals and groups that lead the charge against the children, because that's what they're doing. fighting for their own special interests, they're fighting against the needs of the children. those individuals have had the opportunity to run the school system for a generation. they failed miserably. washington, d.c. public schools among the worst in the country. >> steve, i guess just to push back a little bit on what you just said, i mean, i grew up outside washington, d.c. and that political machine there, it's as old as political machines come and i wonder if you might concede the point that perhaps fenty and rea pushed too hard too fast down there given the fact that you have to deal with the city council, that is very entrenched in that old political establishment and old washington, d.c. >> you don't walk quietly out of a burning building and that's what they're doing. >> you think that ripping the -- >> i do. >> ripping the band aid off and

going in with a surgery was the only way to do it. >> if you see what i see on a daily basis and they do, you see that the band aid is covering a bullet wound and not sufficient. you see that the individuals who are in the political establishment don't send their own kids to these schools and easy to have an esoteric political conversation and talk about patience. it is easy for them to have that conversation but they're not on the ground floor and the ones whose lives in danger because the children are not performing. this is not simply the children doing poorly on math, science and reading but they cannot function in a society in which literacy and a capacity to communicate is essential. >> okay, steve. i guess the fact remains that largely because of this the mayor may be out of a job and his chancellor, as well. and so, the reformers leave. how worried are you at this point? because i know you're quite supportive of chancellor rea and the mayor and how worried are

you this will set back reform if they lose? >> i think what it does is sets back the reform in washington, d.c. the problem is that, you know, may god have mercy on the children of d.c. because they're the ones the lose because finally for the first time in a generation there's been some growth, some performance change. however, the reformers will reform. and sometimes losing a job isn't a bad thing. sometimes it provides an opportunity to have more prix dom and i'm sure they will have an opportunity to do quite a number of things throughout the country. >> steve, we mentioned at the beginning of this segment that all of this is happening in president obama's backyard. we know that the mayor is fairly close to the president. are you surprised that the president hasn't come out and campaigned for fenty? would that have done some good for the mayor? >> i am disappointed that the president has not come out in favor of mayor fenty as well as michelle rea.

she was someone he used as a point of credibility for his own plans and now it seems that the house is on fire he doesn't seem to be there to speak loudly or to throw even a bucket of water on the fire. >> does that undercut his own reform message, do you think? >> maybe he's playing it close to the vest in the hopes to come back another way but the man's got to be about his word and he used michelle rea as a way to win the election and now that he is in office, it is incumbent upon him to stay the course. she's somebody he used as the reform magnet and now where is he when they need his help? >> steve, one last question with less than a minute to go. and that is, do you not think in the end this might be a cautionary tale, not so much about the reforms that rea was pushing but about how to go about it? is there not some sort of cautionary tale there? >> in the end, the status quo

defenders are going to fight to keep things the way they r. because of the circumstances under which we have operating in our public schools, there really is no more time. we have already tried the slow and easy sit down and you give some and i give some approach and made america one of the lowest performing school systems internationally. we have tried that. we have tried to have these conversations. everyone tries the polite let's see what the adults need in order to make them more comfortable to have access to a world class education. it hasn't worked. we are right now where we are because we have negotiated our way into a corner. now we have to come out fighting. >> cnn education contributor steve perry, thank you so much. >> thank you, steve. >> thank you. >> reminder of live coverage of president obama's back to school message of philadelphia later today. you can watch that right here on cnn starting at 1:00 eastern. and if you're just tuning in, we are continuing to follow

breaking news. iran state-run television reporting sarah shourd is released. she was jailed more than a year now and good news to her family. >> cnn has a producer on the ground in teheran and tells us iran is bringing the 32-year-old to a hotel where reporters might be able to talk to her. yesterday, a lawyer for shourd said she would be set free once a $500,000 bond was paid. she is leaving behind fiancee shane bauer and friend josh fattal. they're accused of spying. we'll continue to follow this story. surely a good news-bad news story if ever we knew one and latest developments as they come in and trying to reach out to the families of the hikers to get some comment from them. >> of course, this development no guarantee that anything positive happens to the two remaining hikers still stuck there in iran and watching all of that throughout the morning. coming up next on the most news in the morning, expensive designer labels for huge

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. are you a shopper that thrives on scoring big ticket items on bargain basement prices? >> we'll tell you how to snap up the deeply discounted deals online. there's a little catch. we have this "am original." >> ten minutes to purchase. >> it's 12:00 and at offices across america these shoppers are going nuts. >> you don't even think about budget. you just put it in the comfort

and then deal with it. >> the online score gilt group jus opened and the clock is ticking. >> am i done? >> reporter: in just second, yes, seconds, designer dresses, shoes and handbags get snapped up by buyers looking for a luke's deal at bargain basement prices. it's the web version of the ultimate sample sale. >> you get caught up in the fever of the moment and people love it. it's like gambling or horse races. will i get it? the power of competition. >> reporter: it's called deadline shopping. the idea is simple. entice customers with high-end designer labels a the a great price and then a set amount of time to buy with a limited supply. membership is free but to get in you have to be invited by a member. >> people want a deal but they also don't want the deal that everybody else is getting so the brilliance is it makes you feel like you and a tiny handful of other people stumbled on to this great, wonderful find and that's

fabulous. >> the biggest store in the world. >> reporter: this is where the magic starts at new york's brooklyn navy yard of all places in this hot, dusty, 200,000 square-foot facility. what some call the holy grail. gilt group's warehouse. how do you get people to buy clothing they can't touch, they can't feel and can't try on? >> you know, i think it is a couple of things. one is that it's appointment shopping. you know? we have turned shopping into 'vent. >> reporter: that's for sure. >> i feel that shopping on gilt turned me into an even better multitasker than i was before. >> two of the interests of being lazy and shopping. >> reporter: think it's a fad in think again. the group was founded less than three years ago. today it has nearly 3 million members on track to do up to a half billion dollars of sales this year. g lt founded by two

fashionistas, classmates at harvard business school. you don't how many are left, you have a limited amount of time. >> and the prices are unbelievable. they're there for a day but not the following day. so you know that unlike a store, if you go in and there's not anything left, you think, oh, not a great experience on gilt group you know you have to get there early f. you get there late there's nothing left. >> reporter: because it's online shopping, each and every item sold is photographed at the gilt warehouse with a full team of stylists working around the clock and that's key but there is one issue. buyer's remorse. >> i think it's cute. i think it's fun. different than anything i have. >> reporter: you definitely needed it? >> yes. just like i need to drink four diet cokes a day like that. that's how much i needed it. >> reporter: listen. who couldn't use a striped dress in their closet? gilt group is far and away the most popular and the most buzz.

there are other deadline shopping sites for sure. in fact, you may have heard of ideally. there are many around, guys. the reason it works for everyone is because a lot of designer haves to manufacture their clothes overseas. you can't make ten. you have to make a thousand, maybe 10,000. the department stores don't buy all of them. gilt buys in bulk at a discount and passes that discount on to the consumer. >> i have a theory, really sexist theory. men like to play the baseball video games. >> same thing. you're right. >> i think this is a game. >> it is. >> it is a girl game and get on and go oh wow. >> listen. you talked about the 3 million members on gilt. there's men, children, jet setter if a trip. there's gilt city for city services. say you want to buy a massage or a manicure/pedicure. all of that's available online.

it was interesting. they say the way men like to shop and works for men, men go on gilt and other sites an ensee a suit they like and buy it in blue, gray -- >> oh. >> chocolate brown. see? >> did you come up with idea to combine video games with shopping for men. >> i think it is a video game for women. i like the term gilt man. >> i might do more shopping if there's the case. >> appreciate it. it is 30 minutes past the hour and time for this morning's top stories. secretary of state hillary clinton hoping to write a new chapter in an old mideast drama. she is in israel for a new round of talks. the negotiations part of a process aimed to close a peace deal within the next year. also confirming breaking news. lawyer for american hiker sarah shourd said shourd is released. the 32-year-old has been held

for more than a year now and said to be battling health problems, leaving behind fiancee and friend. the three arrested as we know hiking along the iran-iraq border and accused of spying but very good news out of iran for sarah shourd and her family and cnn has now confirmed that information so we'll be following this. >> all day long. a $100 million fund is being set up by pacific gas and electric to help rebuild the suburb flattened last week including up to $50,000 for each family's living expenses. the city of san bruno says four people were killed in the blst and another four are still missing. up first this half hour, it is a political power house this tuesday and cnn is the place to watch it all go down as we have been saying this morning, seven states head to the polls. american morning is tracking

some of these key races all over the country. delaware first among them. >> new york, wisconsin, new hampshire, d.c. hawaii, massachusetts and maryland. the hottest is delaware where it's shaping up to be a knockout match between tea party-backed candidate christine o'donnell and moderate republican candidate mike castle. this is all for a chance to snatch up joe biden's old seat. the race was supposed to be smooth sailing for castle but the long-time congressman and two-term governor's support of president obama's priorities turned the tea party pretty bitter and trying to take him out with support and money behind candidate christine o'donnell. listen to what he told our brian todd. >> was lisa murkowski's loss in alaska a wake-up call for you? >> well, it was an added wake-up call. i mean, we had watched the elections around the country and saw what was going on. actually, we received a call from lisa after the election

saying, mike, you need to be prepared. they'll come at you hard. >> we want to go live to dover, delaware, right now in the heart of today's action is our shannon travis. shannon, give us kind of the view from the ground. >> the view from the ground is the same thing that happened in alaska. may actually happen here. candy, i was in alaska covering that race with murkowski versus miller and the tea party using the play attack from the playbook of alaska here. they basically poured in money, time and resources to basically defeat what they considered to be a liberal rhino, republican in name only in congressman mike castle to push christine o'donnell they deem more conservative, more constitutional conservative over the finish line. you may know that obviously sarah palin endorsed her and it is getting ugly. they're using words, hearing words like prostitution,

cannibalism and death threats in terms of the cannibalism, o'donnell's campaign alleges that the republican state party trying to eat their own to push her out of the way in terms of the word prostitution. the tea party express alleges that the republican party chairman in delaware is in bed with mike castle because he supports him and in terms of debt threats, that same state party chairman ross according to our brian todd received a death threat for being -- for backing mike castle. christine o'donnell is not without problems. she's had some personal finance problems that have come to light. her campaign, the delaware state republican party alleges that they've had some legal coordination with the tea party express and a lot of people feel if she wins this nomination tonight that she will be the weaker candidate possibly handing this seat over to democrats so it's a very dramatic race. she's voted today.

other voters voting today. we'll see what this result will be later on. >> shannon, in the end, the words now sort of mean less than the turnout so it generally depends on which candidate identified who their voters are and who has the organization to find those voters and get them to the polls. do you have any sense at all as to who's got that ground game going for them? >> it's no clear advantage that we're seeing so far. we can tell you a few things. a, mike castle has name recognition, nine-term congressman here in delaware. he was voted in for governor twice. so people know mike castle. they know his name. and they've obviously approved of him in several elections. christine o'donnell, never won a statewide elective office. she's run for office a few times before and not really sure if she has the same kind of name recognition. we're talking about a close republican primary with about

183,000 republican voters that could potentially vote in this so in terms of who has the advantage on the ground game, we are not really sure and we know who has more of a name recognition and that's mike castle. >> shannon travis, thank you so much. i guess o'donnell also has some of the passion on her side, too. you have a great one down there, have fun covering it down there tonight. thanks so much. football and concussions. scientists taking a closer look at brain trauma and how quickly it can take hold to every parent who has a son, sometimes a daughter playing football, don't miss our next guest joining us in a moment. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, traders have always gotten more.

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and we want to bring you new details on a developing story that has just happened in the last half hour or so. sarah shourd, that hiker who's been detained about a year in iran, is apparently freed. cnn confirmed that she is in the process of being released by iranian authorities and we want to bring in our reis a sayah.

reza, apparently you talked on the phone with sarah shourd's attorney and confirmed this. reza is there live in islamabad for us. how is she doing? do we know from talking to her attorney? >> reporter: well, the attorney says that she has been released. and that's all the information we have right now. they're processing her release at this point. but it is finally happened. after a very long wait. after more than 13 months in jail. all of it in solitary confinement without ever being charged, with only one opportunity to see her lawyer which came a few days ago. she has finally been released. we spoke to the attorney. it is not clear if she has paid that $500,000 in bail money. that was the condition of her release. you'll recall, outlined by the senior prosecutor in teheran on sunday. the senior prosecutor saying she would be released if she was able to post that $500,000 in

bail money. there were some reports that the family was looking to lower that bail money so it's not clear if that entire amount was paid for a lower amount. but as far as sarah shourd's family is concerned, she is released and she is on her way out of the prison. it is not clear what her travel plans are, if she plans to leave iran tonight but you can be sure that happens as soon as possible. trips outside of iran to the u.s., usually a stopover in dubai and then on to a destination in the u.s. but this within the past half hour, jim, once again, sarah shourd, one of the three u.s. hikers jailed in iran has been released. >> reza, it is candy. in the past when we have seen similar situation where is an american is released from iran, have we seen press conferences? we were talking to one of our producers on the ground in

teheran saying the possibility of talking to her available and headed to a hotel in teheran. doesn't seem like that's a place to talk freely. >> reporter: well, it's going to be interesting how much publicity is going to surround this release. you'll recall just a few days ago when initially iranian officials came out and announced she would be released because president mahmoud ahmadinejad intervened. they were planning on surrounding the release with a lot of publicity. they had literally sms'd and text messaged reporters in teheran calling them to a hotel where the release would happen and that plan scrapped when iranian's powerful judiciary came in and said -- >> well, looks like -- yeah. we lost reza there on the satellite. >> he seemed to be referring to what we heard from the produce we are a split of what to do.

>> right. >> about her and so it sounds like even dealing with the exit of sarah shourd has produced some political bickering inside the government of iran. >> i imagine they would want to determine how to massage this release for the maximum political benefit for the iranians but it is going to be interesting to watch how she exits that country because it may be as you indicated candy in her own best interest not to say very much at whatever public setting to put her in. >> even afterwards because she leaves two friends behind. >> that's true. very good point. moving on to the world of sports and football and concussions, serious issue and scientists taking a closer look at brain trauma and how quickly it can take hold. you don't want to miss the next guest. dr. robert stern of boston's school of medicine joins us in a moment.

welcome back to the most news in the morning a. degeneraltive brain disease has been found in owen thomas, a 21-year-old of pennsylvania lineman that reported no concussions and then committed suicide this spring leaving experts to wonder how quickly cete can get a footing in the brain. joining me live from boston, co-director of the study of chronic enreceive lop think, i can't believe i got through it

twice without botching it. thank you for joining us. that is serious subject and this case of owen thomas from the university of pennsylvania has really just struck a lot of people who follow football, college football really hard and i'm curious, just to get this out of the way. do we know definitively whether cte could be linked to suicide? >> yeah, no. we don't know at all. we know that cte can bring on depression and erratic behavior and problems with impulse control and there have been several cases of suicide in the past mongs people found to have cte but in an individual case we can't say for sure there's a link. >> this case raises questions that this is perhaps another example of the danger of traumatic head injuries in professional football and pro sports in general. i guess that's how you're looking at it at this point. >> yeah. we are looking at it for two very big reasons.

one is that it shows us that this disease cte, a progressive brain disease and eventually leads to dementia can start at a very young age. you don't need to have played pro for years to start this disease. we saw mild and definitive disease in owen. it shows us that you don't need to have had known or reported concussions to develop this brain disease. it really shows us that those multiple, repetitive sub con kusive blows to the head can bring on the beginnings of this disease. >> it reminds me of the way the body breaks down and degenerates in time in the way of pitchers under going tommy johns surgery. may not do permanent damage enroute to a surgery but may need that surgery s. that a good

analogy of all that perhaps this can go undetected over time and then result in a traumatic case to be dealt with? >> yeah. it definitely can go undetected. we don't know how long it develops before we start seeing symptoms. what you bring up is a great analogy of pitchers undergo tommy john surgery. what do we do with the youth little league pitchers out there throughout the spring and summer? we count every single pitch to make sure that they're not over pitching so we prevent them from developing problems in the shoulder and elbow. even though it's a small number of kids to develop the problems but do we question the number of hits to the brain that a youth football player gets? and the answer tragically is no. >> extremely difficult to do in football. i can hear a lot of parents out there scratching their heads and wondering, okay, what do i do about my kid, son and daughter

that play out there. because you're not going to go to two-hand touch football leagues all over the country. what do we do? >> well, i can't give you any very specific policy or guideline changes that we can recommend based on the science but all i can tell you is that we need to do something urgently to make the game safer. and what that means is reducing the overall exposure to these repetitive blows to the head. whether that means doing something to the way the game is practiced so we reduce the number of hits to the head, to rule changes during the game, to using different kinds of helmets. there are so many things that need to be done but the very first important thing is education. we need to make sure that parents, the kids themselves, the trainers and the coaches really understand that repeating blows to the head over time can have dramatic problems later in

life. >> we know from talking to you and members of your center that this issue is a big one for the national football league and now the nfl is tarted to make some changes in that regard to limit the repeated damage to professional athletes out there and probably a good idea for kids out there and their parents who are in these little leagues the look at the nfl doing and look at cases like owen's case for a bit of caution in terms of how much damage is done down the road. unfortunately, we have run out of time for this segment, dr. stern. of course, we can talk all day about this. dr. stern joining us live from boston this morning. thank you. >> thank you very much, jim. >> sanjay gupta working on a series, a special series on concussi concussions. we'll bring you his reports in october. for now, it is 51 minutes after the hour. when our clients' needs changed we changed to meet them.

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it is 54 minutes past the hour. we want a quick check of the

morning's weather headlines. rob marciano is in atlanta this morning. >> hurricane julia, it was a tropical storm yesterday. category 1 with winds of 75 miles per hour way out in the atlantic and we think this is going to remain that way. category 4 storm of much greater concern, hurricane igor with winds now 135 miles per hour. you notice the last couple of frames of this satellite imagery jumps to the right to the north and waiting for that and anticipating a northward turn of this thing and that's what the forecast is and we certainly hope this verifies. if it does, it takes the u.s. completely out of the picture as far as a landfall and concerned and may very well spare bermuda getting it turning more to the right. major storm status to about 30 degrees or so degree north and then weaken. the u.s. affected with larger swell. severe storms in the mid section of the country today.

we are seeing some of those develop. 87 degrees the high in kansas city. 93 degrees in dallas. 78 degrees, breezy and comfortably cool in the big apple. that's a quick check on weather. "american morning" is coming right back. [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. [ wife ] babe... i gotta go. [ female announcer ] yoplait, it is so good.

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a quick programming note before we leave you this morning. the president goes back to school today, at a philadelphia school today for an annual address. the speech expected to focus on students who take responsibility by showing up on time, doing their homework and, of course, staying out of trouble and who can argue with that? we'll have live coverage of the president's back to school message from philadelphia today. you can watch it here on cnn starting at 1:00 eastern. continue the conversation on today's stairs, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. that will do it for us here this tuesday. we made it through another day. the coupe continues. do it again tomorrow? >> we will. i don't want to leave without thanking you for coming with us today. >>ee